A Thing for Fire
by Fallain
Summary: After Pyro's locked away and cured after Alcatraz, Bobby and Kitty team up with Spider-man and the Human Torch, but having another blonde fire starter so close to Bobby is bringing out conflicted feelings and Bobby may steal someone else's love.


Summery: After Pyro's locked away and cured after Alcatraz, Bobby and Kitty team up with Spider-man and the Human Torch, but having another blonde fire starter so close to Bobby is bringing out conflicted feelings and Bobby may steal someone else's love.

Authors Notes: A mixture of the X-men movies and Ultimate Spiderman where Iceman, Shadowcat, Spiderman and Torch are on a team. This idea came to me while writing a Bobby/John fic for Elise and reminding myself that Ale had requested a SpiderTorch fic. This started out as a one-shot that went "what if" and turned into a multiple chapter fic. I don't plan my fics out well, so the end couples could be anything. Your comments could help influence who ends up together.

In this fic, Johnny Storm will ALWAYS be referred to as Johnny or Torch and Pyro will ALWAYS be John or Pyro to avoid confusion with the similar names.

Also, this is my first attempt at multiple POVs so I hope I made it clear enough when there's a character change.

This fic was Beta'd by Ken, who not only corrects my work, but mocks me about it to help my determination to be a better writer. Not sure if I want to thank him or punch him.

A Thing For Fire

Chapter one: What's lost can be found

Pyro was gone. Locked up in prison after Alcatraz and cured. Without his flames, he wasn't Pyro. He was just Saint John Allerdyce again. A man in prison on trial for being a war criminal, who would soon be found guilty not just from evidence, but from his refusal to speak. John hadn't uttered a single word since he was cured. The few times Bobby went and tried to see him, he seemed paler and skinnier each time, and his dark sunken eyes just stared into space as if he didn't even realize Bobby was there. He was a ghost of the man he used to be, so vibrant, full of life, and out of control like the fire he controlled. He was already dead, but his body hadn't realized it yet and kept existing until the day he'd be given a lethal injection.

After the first few months, a handful of visits, Bobby stopped going. It was too painful to see John like that, his old friend, his old roommate, the man he once loved but had been too afraid to say anything to about it.

Sometimes as Bobby laid awake in bed, alone in his room now, he could still hear the soft clink of John's lighter echoing in his memories. John had always been a restless sleeper, having difficulties falling asleep, but while some people counted sheep or listed to music, John flicker his lighter until he fell asleep with it loosely gripped in his hand. Bobby could always tell when John was truly asleep. He didn't snore or have dream twitches, but he'd drool. John always refused to admit why there were drool stains on his pillow, but Bobby found it somewhat endearing. Some nights, he'd get out of bed and take the lighter from John's hand to place it on the desk where it wouldn't fall from his grasp in the middle of the night and get lost under the bed or in John's clutter of dirty clothes.

He wished he had told John how he felt about him, but he'd been too afraid. But being a mutant, an outcast from his family, AND gay wasn't something that Bobby could handle at the time. He was still trying to cope and control his ice powers, he couldn't possibly imagine opening up his heart to someone as reckless and dangerous as John. So he turned his attentions to Rogue. Marie.

But not a single day went by that he didn't regret it. That he wished he had taken John in his arms and felt his firm lips pressed against his. Maybe then, John wouldn't have left with Magneto. Maybe he wouldn't have turned into Pyro, and maybe he wouldn't be rotting away in prison right now.

However, life has a funny way of bringing old things back to you. When Bobby and Kitty met Peter Parker and Johnny Storm, Bobby couldn't stop staring at Johnny. Spider-man and the Human Torch. Johnny, sharing a similar name to John, even had the same flare. Literally. Blonde and arrogant, the only differences were that Johnny wasn't actually a mutant, but a result of an accident with solar flares in space, he was kind hearted, and he was stronger than John ever could have hoped to be. John couldn't create fire, only manipulate it, which was something he continued to sulk over everyday as he flicked his lighter in irritation that he needed the tool to use his power. But Johnny could BE fire. He could burst into flames, the fire engulfing his body. He could fly, he could bring the fire out of nowhere to use as a weapon.

And he was too similar to John to ignore.

John was gone. He had loved John but he was gone and there was no saving him. But here, life had handed Bobby another fiery blonde, another chance. Now the only choice was if Bobby could replace John with Johnny. If he could look into Johnny's eyes and not see John staring back at him. If he could live with being cuddled up with another fire starter after the news announcement of Pyro's death.

XxXxXx

Johnny wasn't blind. He had a natural flare and poise for being the center of attention, and his powers adapted well to it, enjoying flying around in flames, burning pictures into the sky with his smoke, and performing simple tricks to impress the crowd of onlookers.

But one of those onlookers was always Bobby Drake.

Ever since meeting the mutants Iceman and Shadowcat, Bobby and Kitty, the pair seemed to hang around them more often than their own x-men. Not that Johnny minded, since he often went off without the rest of the Fantastic Four, finding it more fun to be around Peter instead. And with the Human Torch next to Spider-man, he was at least being seen as less of a menace and more of the hero he really was.

Johnny honestly didn't see how Peter could take so much abuse both physical and verbal as Spiderman and still keep the costume to put on when he was needed. Once when it was brought up, Peter mumbled something about his uncle Ben, power and responsibility but he hadn't truly wanted to talk about it, and it wasn't something that Johnny would push.

He'd never admit how much he admired Peter, how much he craved his attention more than any of his fangirls, how eager he had been to make friends with the neighborhood Spiderman and find out how handsome the man under the mask was.

He knew now that being with someone normal was out of the question. Normal girls couldn't handle his lifestyle of fighting crime, or his unique way of roasting marshmallows, but Peter could because Peter already stood next to him, fought next to him, stayed next to him no matter what. His sister Sue had found romance with Reed and fought crime together, and that was the kind of relationship that Johnny wanted to have one day too.

But right now, Johnny felt the familiar tingle between his shoulder blades of being watched, as his flames died down and he landed on the ground. As he turned, sure enough, there was Bobby again.

"Don't get too close, I might melt you." Johnny joked, throwing Bobby a wink and his trademark cocky grin.

Without Kitty or Peter around, it was a rare alone moment for the two of them, and he was surprised when Bobby walked towards him with his own grin across those lips.

"Maybe I wouldn't mind melting for you."

XxXxXx

Peter watched the exchange from a rooftop far above the ice and fire couple with a tight knot in his throat. He recognized the look in Bobby's eyes when he looked at Johnny because it was the same look that Peter knew was reflected in his own eyes when he looked at Johnny. Longing to be close, forbidden lust, and the careful control to keep those emotions bottled up inside slowly slipping away and giving into the hidden desires.

Just swoop down there. Just swing down there on your web, scoop Johnny up and steal him away, Peter thought to himself. He closed his eyes as the mental images of swinging through the air with Johnny in his arms and pinning the blonde to a nearby rooftop flooded through his mind. His hands were trembling, giving him the doubt that he'd even be able to hang onto his web in this condition. But Peter was young, Bobby's age, barely out of high school, and his emotions were running amok and battling between what his heart wanted and what his brain was telling him he couldn't have.

His heart wanted Johnny. Warm and in his arms. But his brain kept screaming no, no, no, that Johnny would much rather have fangirls swooning over him and taking a different girl home every night than to settle down with someone like Peter.

And he couldn't stop thinking of Aunt May. Of what she'd think if he brought Johnny home as a date instead of Gwen or Mary Jane. Would she recognize him from TV as a part of the Fantastic Four? Would that be the piece of the puzzle that would tell her that Peter was Spiderman? No, it was too risky to feel anything for Johnny.

Yet, his heart ached when he saw Bobby reach out and take Johnny's hand. It was crippling heartache to see someone else taking what he wanted so badly. Someone else who wasn't afraid to take it. Neither Johnny or Bobby would ever know how many countless nights Peter laid awake imaging Johnny in bed next to him, just laying there, his soft breaths on Peter's shoulder as he slept. They'd never know how many fights Peter joined in, not because he thought they needed help but because he was afraid of Johnny getting hurt and wanted to be there firsthand to try and protect him. Bobby would never know what he was taking from Peter, and Johnny would never know what he was missing, and maybe that was for the best.

Opting for the fire escape instead of his webs, Peter stuffed his mask back into his backpack and slipped his clothes on over the rest of his suit before climbing down the long ladders and dropping softly into the ally, on the opposite side of the building of where Bobby and Johnny were. Neither of them would even have to know that he'd seen the entire exchange and was walking away with his heart shattered.

It's your own fault Peter, hissed the voice in his mind. You never said or did anything and now it's too late.

XxXxXx

For someone whose body could turn to ice, playing it cool didn't come naturally. Especially not while talking to someone like Johnny who seemed to radiate beauty and charisma. He felt like he was talking to a God, which only brought back the memory of listening to Magneto's words to John. You are a God among men...

Which only strengthened his resolve to convince Johnny to come back to his apartment. It was a small home, one bedroom, cramped kitchen and bathroom and a living room that reeked of smoke from it's previous tenants, something that hadn't made it easy to forget about John, but it wasn't the Xavier Institute. It was private and most importantly it was his, where he could be alone with his thoughts or with someone to start a new chapter of his life.

And right now that someone was Johnny Storm, still in his tight fitting Fantastic Four uniform as he shuffled through Bobby's DVD collection, trying to find something to fulfill Bobby's promise of a movie and nachos.

"Why nachos?" Johnny had asked.

"Because you hate popco-" Bobby started before realizing that it had been John, not Johnny that couldn't stand popcorn. He'd once explained that the kernels pissed him off, whatever that meant, but they had always shared nachos during movies instead, and Bobby found it to be more enjoyable that way.

Which brought him back to his kitchen, still trying to convince himself that he really did have feelings for Johnny and it wasn't just because of how similar he was to John. Of course, that uniform of his that left little to the imagination wasn't helping. Bobby had thought that the X-men's leather clad uniforms had been bad, but at least they didn't have skin tight uniforms that clung to every curve of their body, making them seem almost naked as they moved and every movement was defined and vivid with no baggy clothing in the way to hide anything.

"How do you feel about zombies?" Johnny called over to the kitchen, meaning he had found Bobby's copy of Zombieland.

"I wouldn't have it if I didn't like it." Bobby responded, with a grin as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, even though he recalled having a copy of Donnie Darko even though he hated that movie.

No, the voice in his head corrected. You had that movie because you heard John talking about how much he loved it. You only hate it because it confused you. Or did you love it deep down because your confusion meant you could sit there and listen to John ramble off about the different possibilities that the movie could have meant and debate the life of Frank?

How many movies were on his shelf only because John liked them? Zombieland, Sunshine and Donnie Darko were certainly some of them. He walked over to the couch with the nachos to set them down on the tiny coffee table before sitting down in front of the shelf with Johnny and carefully taking John's movies off, and stacking them off to the side. Which left less than half of his movies to choose from and a confused Johnny.

"Just not in the mood for anything too serious. Don't we get enough of that during the day?" Bobby tried to explain with a lie and a shrug.

Which left them watching Clerks, a black and white movie even though it wasn't an old classic, and enjoying getting to see normal people with normal job and relationship issues. The kind of life that they lived was so far from what Bobby would have that it was almost painful, thinking that he'd never get to have something that's as simple as a clerk job with an obnoxious best friend. But Johnny's warm presence next to him, their shoulders almost touching, reassured him. A normal life was out of the question, but he wouldn't give up on a happy ending, and suddenly he was overly grateful that Johnny hadn't picked out a Disney movie to watch. Not that Bobby owned Enchanted or Tangled or 101 Dalmatians or anything... Bobby might fall apart if he had to watch a movie about how dogs had a normal and happier life than he might.

Johnny let out a low whistle during one of the scenes.

"Wow, glad no one's ever confronted me over how many blow jobs I've had. At least this chick kept count." He nudged Bobby and grinned, and Bobby felt his stomach twist at that little joke, trying to even imagine how many people Johnny had been with.

But with the small nudge, Bobby leaned closer to nudge him back, staying close and slowly leaning his weight against Johnny with a nervous smile. He didn't see the curious look Johnny gave him as he looked down at the man next to him and slowly shifted, making Bobby more comfortable instead of pushing him away.

Bobby's heart leapt, not even hearing the dialog of the movie anymore as he shifted as well, trying to get close to Johnny's height. Even sitting down, it was clear who was taller. Despite his ice powers, Bobby felt flushed with heat as his heartbeat picked up with anxiety, tilting his head as Johnny looked over at him, their lips almost touching. He could feel Johnny's warm breath on his lips and leaned just a bit closer when-

There was a knock on the door.

No, there was a banging on the door. A knock was a few simple taps with the knuckle. This was an angry desperate pounding with a fist, a demand to be answered, and Bobby groaned as he pulled away and saw the look on Johnny's face, still curious about what almost just happened.

"I'I'm sorry..." Bobby stammered, unsure if he was apologizing for the almost kiss or for getting up to answer the door instead of finishing what he'd started.

Johnny simply shrugged without a word and turned his attention back to the TV, but Bobby could see he wasn't focused on the movie any longer, but lost in thoughts as Bobby got up to quickly cross over to the door to get whoever was on the other side to stop that pounding before his neighbors complained.

"Jesus hang on! It's only going to take a second you-" Bobby unlocked the latch and opened the door for his breath to be caught in his throat, incapable of words past this point as his entire body went rigid with shock and a hint of fear.

John stood in the doorway, looking like Hell. His blonde hair was hanging limp around his face like he hadn't had a haircut in months and his natural brunette hair was taking over the roots. His arm was shaking as he used it to hold himself standing upright with his palm pressed against the doorway, and in his other hand, was a lighter. Not the familiar shark lighter, but a new one, all black and shiny with a simple silver outline of a flame at the top. His brown eyes had dark circles under them and his once round and puppy-like had sunken in cheeks, defining his cheekbones and jaw. But despite everything, he grinned, manically, and let out a hysterical laugh.

"Bobby-buddy ol buddy ol...Bobbs..." John rambled, making Bobby unsure if he was even sane anymore, even if it was slightly nice to know that he still had a voice. "Guess what? The cure isn't permanent."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the lighter in his hand flicked open, proving the truth as flames spread over his hand and Bobby automatically fell into defensive mode, tensing, ready for the attack. Which never came as the flame died, John's eyes fluttering shut as he collapsed, barely giving Bobby time to reach out and grab him before he could hit the floor.


End file.
